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Kofi Kingston

Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is an African-American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Kofi Kingston and is a member of The New Day along with Xavier Woods and Big E. Since debuting in WWE in 2008, Kingston has won 15 total championships. He is a four-time Intercontinental Champion, a three-time United States Champion and an eight-time world tag team champion. His second Raw Tag Team Championship reign as a part of The New Day is the longest reign for any tag team title in WWE history and Kingston himself holds the record for cumulative days spent as spent as a Tag Team Champion within WWE. He is also known for his innovative ways of suspending his elimination from battle royal and Royal Rumble matches.

In 2007, under the ring name Kofi Nahaje Kingston, he had his first exposure to the main WWE roster, when he worked dark matches on March 5 and 26 before episodes of Raw against Charlie Haas and Trevor Murdoch, respectively.[14][15] When he returned to the developmental federations, he shortened his original ring name to Kofi Kingston and continued to alternate between both ring names throughout his duration there.[2] He also worked live events, defeating Shelton Benjamin on May 5,[16] and Val Venis on May 6.[17]

Undefeated streak (2007–2008)

A series of vignettes for Kingston's television debut began airing on the weekly ECW on Syfy television show starting on December 6, 2007.[19] During this introduction phase, his videos, the official website and commentators noted he would be the first Jamaican to wrestle for WWE but he does not have any Jamaican ancestry.[7][2][20] He is, however, the first African-born performer in WWE history. He debuted on the January 22, 2008 ECW as a face with a win over local wrestler David Owen in Charlottesville, Virginia.[21]

After wrestling sporadic matches, Kingston was involved in his first major match, a 24-man battle royal during the WrestleMania XXIV pre-show with the winner receiving an ECW Championship match, but was eliminated by Mark Henry.[22] Kingston remained undefeated in singles competition in ECW for months and was placed into a feud with Shelton Benjamin at the end of April 2008.

After two straight losses, Benjamin got a win over Kingston on the May 20 ECW, ending his undefeated streak.[23] On the June 24 ECW, Kingston defeated Benjamin in an Extreme Rules match to end their feud.[24]

At No Way Out, Kingston was scheduled to compete in the World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber but was unable to officially enter the match as he was ambushed by Edge, who took Kingston's place and eventually won the match.[33]

During WWE Bragging Rights, Kingston and Raw teammate Cody Rhodes argued about Kingston losing their match. So, when Rhodes and Ted DiBiase interfered on Randy Orton's behalf during his WWE Championship match, Kingston ran out with a chair and chased them out of the arena. Orton later lost the match.[43] On the October 26 Raw, Kingston began a feud with Orton, who believed Kingston cost him the WWE Championship. After Kingston defeated Chris Jericho, Orton attacked him from behind, eventually throwing him against the side of the entrance ramp. Later that night, Kingston destroyed Orton's car[44] On the November 16 Raw, Kingston saved guest host "Rowdy" Roddy Piper from an assault by Orton then performed a Boom Drop from a rail in the crowd onto Orton, through a table.[45] Kingston went on to lead his Survivor Series team to victory against Orton's team, where he was the sole survivor, last eliminating Orton.[46] On the November 30 Raw, Kingston was scheduled to face Orton in a one on one match, only to be assaulted from behind by Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Despite the assault, Kingston still wished to continue, and was quickly defeated by Orton.[47] The following week, Kingston defeated Orton in a rematch where guest host Mark Cuban, who had a grudge against Orton since their encounter at Survivor Series in 2003 when Orton performed an RKO on him, gave Kingston a fast count. With one victory apiece, the two wrestled again at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs,[48] and Orton won.[49] On the December 28 Raw, Orton interfered in Kingston's match for the United States Championship.[50] On the January 4 Raw, Orton once again defeated Kingston.[51] The next week, Kingston and John Cena lost a Triple Threat match, which determined a challenger for Sheamus' WWE Championship at Royal Rumble, to Randy Orton, who pinned Kingston.[52]

On the February 1 Raw, Kingston won a qualifying match by defeating the Big Show via disqualification to advance to the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the inaugural Elimination Chamber event.[53] Kingston, however, failed to win after being eliminated by Sheamus. The following night on the February 22 episode of Raw, Kingston teamed up with Yoshi Tatsu and Evan Bourne against Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes in a six-man tag team match. During the match, Orton turned face by attacking Rhodes and DiBiase, which Orton allowed Kingston, Tatsu and Bourne to win.

Intercontinental Champion (2010–2011)

On the March 22 episode of Raw, Kingston defeated Vladimir Kozlov to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI. At the event however, Kingston was unsuccessful as the match was won by Jack Swagger. On April 26, as part of the 2010 WWE draft, Kingston was drafted to the SmackDown brand. In his debut match for the brand, he defeated Chris Jericho.[54] On the following SmackDown, Kingston was entered into a four-man tournament for the vacant Intercontinental Championship after Drew McIntyre had been stripped of the title earlier in the show. He went on to defeat Dolph Ziggler in the first match of the tournament.[55]Christian defeated Cody Rhodes in the second match. As a result, Kingston faced and defeated Christian in the finals of the tournament to seemingly win his second Intercontinental Championship on the May 14 SmackDown. However, moments later, McIntyre came out with a letter, signed by Vince McMahon, saying that Theodore Long was irresponsible and abused his power. The letter also stated that McIntyre was reinstated to the active roster and that Kingston was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship, which returned to McIntyre.[56]

Kingston in December 2010

At Over the Limit, Kingston defeated McIntyre to win his second official Intercontinental Championship.[57] Kingston mentored Michael McGillicutty on the second season of WWE NXT.[58] At Fatal 4 Way, Kofi defended the Intercontinental Championship against Drew McIntyre.[59] On July 18 at Money in the Bank, Kingston lost the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match when Kane grabbed the briefcase.[60] The following SmackDown, Kingston lost to Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match.[61] On the July 30 SmackDown, Kingston faced Ziggler in a rematch but lost via disqualification, resulting in Ziggler earning a title match.[62] On August 6 SmackDown, Ziggler defeated Kingston to win the Intercontinental Championship. Kingston got his rematch for the title August 15 at Summerslam, which ended in a no contest after The Nexus interfered. On the August 20 Smackdown, Kingston faced Ziggler once again for the Intercontinental Championship defeating Ziggler by disqualification, but by rule, Ziggler retained his Intercontinental Championship.[63] The following week, Kingston faced Ziggler once again for the Intercontinental Championship, with the match stipulation that if Ziggler was disqualified, the title would change hands. Vickie Guerrero intervened during the match and got Ziggler counted out, so he kept the title. At Night of Champions, Ziggler again faced Kingston for the title; if Dolph was either counted out or disqualified, Kofi would win the title. Ziggler retained by pinfall. On the October 15 Smackdown, Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre to earn a spot on Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights. Team SmackDown won the match, with Edge and Rey Mysterio as the sole survivors. On the December 3 SmackDown, Kingston defeated Jack Swagger to become the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship but failed to win back the title when Swagger attacked him during the match. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Kingston and Swagger lost a ladder match for the title, as he and Swagger unhooked the belt but dropped it to the mat and Ziggler grabbed it for the win.

On the January 7, 2011 SmackDown, Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to become the Intercontinental Champion for a third time. Immediately following the match, acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero ordered that Ziggler invoke his rematch clause straight away, but Kingston quickly pinned Ziggler again to retain his championship. Kingston then moved into a feud with Alberto Del Rio, which culminated in a non-title match at Elimination Chamber which Kingston lost. On March 22 at the tapings of the March 25 SmackDown, Kingston lost the Intercontinental Championship to Wade Barrett.[64] On April 1 SmackDown, Kingston won his rematch against Wade Barrett by disqualification. After Vladimir Kozlov was injured at the hands of The Corre, Kingston was chosen as Kozlov's replacement in an eight-man tag team match involving Kofi, Kane, Big Show and Santino Marella versus The Corre at WrestleMania 27, which Kingston's team won.[65] On April 26, Kingston was drafted back to the Raw brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft.[66] On May 1, Kingston defeated Sheamus in a Tables Match at Extreme Rules to win his second United States Championship, in the process returning the title to Raw.[67] On the May 9 Raw, Kingston successfully defended his championship against Jack Swagger.[68] At WWE Capitol Punishment, Kingston lost the title to Dolph Ziggler.[69] Kingston faced Ziggler in a rematch for the title on the June 20 Raw in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match, but Ziggler retained the United States Championship as the match ended with Ziggler being disqualified.[70]

WWE Tag Team Champion (2011–2012)

On the August 22 Raw, Kingston won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Evan Bourne when they defeated David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty.[71] On the August 29 Raw, the duo was called "Air Boom", and they had their first successful title defense when they defeated Otunga and McGillicutty in a rematch.[72] At Night of Champions Air Boom retained their titles against The Miz & R-Truth by disqualification after Miz attacked a WWE referee.[73] At Hell in a Cell and Vengeance, Air Boom retained their titles twice against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger.[74][75] Bourne was suspended throughout November for his first violation of the company's Wellness policy.[76] At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs Air Boom successfully retained their titles against Primo & Epico.[77] On January 15, 2012, Air Boom lost the Tag Team titles to Primo and Epico at a house show.[78] The following night on Raw, Air Boom were awarded a rematch but failed to regain the titles.[79] The following day, Bourne was suspended again for his second violation of WWE's Wellness Policy.[80]

At Royal Rumble, Kingston participated in the Royal Rumble match and although he did not win, he had a stand-out moment when he saved himself from elimination by walking on his hands to reach the ring steps and re-enter the ring.[81] At Elimination Chamber, Kingston failed to capture the WWE Championship after being eliminated third by Chris Jericho.[82] Kingston then began teaming with R-Truth, facing the likes of Primo and Epico and Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger which they both won and lost, respectively. On the February 27 Raw, Kingston and Truth failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship from Primo and Epico in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match, also involving Ziggler and Swagger. On the April 30 Raw, Kingston and Truth defeated Primo and Epico to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. At Over the Limit, Kingston and R-Truth successfully defended the titles against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger and then again in a rematch on the May 28 Raw.[83][84] In the pre-show of Money in the Bank, Kingston and Truth defeated Hunico and Camacho in a non-title match.[85]

The following night on Raw, they successfully defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil and Darren Young).[86] At SummerSlam, Kingston and Truth defeated the Prime Time Players to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.[87] At Night of Champions, Kingston and Truth lost the Tag Team Championship to the team of Daniel Bryanand Kane[88] and failed to regain the titles from the new champions the following night on Raw.[89] Both Kingston and Truth were defeated by The Prime Time Players in the first round of the Tag Team Tournament to determine the number one contenders for the Tag Team Championships, causing both Kingston and Truth to disband as a team and each returning to being single competitors.

United States Champion (2012–2014)

On October 17, 2012, Kingston defeated Miz to win the Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time in his career.[90] Kingston then defeated Miz in two rematches, the first on October 28 at Hell in a Cell, and the second on the November 6 SmackDown.[91][92] Kingston then began feuding with Wade Barrett when the two were placed on opposing teams in the traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match on November 18 at Survivor Series. Kingston's team, led by Mick Foley, was defeated by Barrett's team, led by Dolph Ziggler, during which he was eliminated by Barrett.[93] The following night on Raw, Kingston was defeated by Barrett in a non-title match.[94] Kingston, still the Intercontinental Champion, received a shot at the United States Championship on the December 3 Raw, against champion Antonio Cesaro, R-Truth, and Wade Barrett in a fatal four-way match, but was unsuccessful after Cesaro pinned Kingston for the win.[95] At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Kingston successfully defended his title against Barrett.[96] Two weeks later on the December 31 Raw, Kingston lost the Intercontinental Championship to Barrett ending his reign at 74 days.[97] Kingston received his rematch four days later on SmackDown, but lost the match.[98] At the 2013 Royal Rumble event, Kingston had another stand-out moment in the Rumble match. After eliminating Tensai, he was pushed out of the ring but Kingston jumped on Tensai's back, landed on the announce table and used a commentary chair from John "Bradshaw" Layfield to hop to the ring apron before being eliminated by Cody Rhodes.[81][99]

Kingston in April 2014

On the April 15 on Raw, Kingston defeated Cesaro to win his third United States Championship[100] but lost it on May 19 at Extreme Rules to Dean Ambrose.[101] On May 31, Kingston was written out of TV, as he was undergoing elbow surgery and was expected to be out for four to eight weeks.[102] Kingston returned from injury on August 5.[103] At Night of Champions faced the Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, but was defeated.[104] In late September, Bray Wyatt would start delivering cryptic messages to Kingston after his matches,[105][106] leading to a match between the two on October 6 at Battleground, which Wyatt won.[107] At Survivor Series, Kofi was defeated by The Miz. In the upcoming weeks, Kingston would lose to The Miz in multiple matches. Kingston would finally win a rematch against The Miz at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a No Disqualification Match. On the January 13 episode of Raw, Kingston defeated WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton in a non-title match; he faced Orton again the following week, but allowed himself to lose by disqualification by holding Orton in place to allow John Cena to attack Orton for attacking his father.

Kingston entered at number 8 at the Royal Rumble, and avoided elimination by landing on the crowd barricade and made an 11-foot jump to get back in the ring. He was later the seventh person eliminated by Roman Reigns. On the February 13 episode of SmackDown, Kingston would tap out to Jack Swagger in a number one contender's match for the Intercontinental Championship in a match also featuring Mark Henry and Rey Mysterio; on the March 21 episode of SmackDown, Kingston was announced in the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal at WrestleMania XXX. Kingston would have a standout moment in the match, getting thrown of over the turnbuckles by Cesaro and to avoid elimination by keeping his toes on the steel steps, he would later be eliminated by Sheamus. At Payback, Kingston would compete in a match against Bo Dallas, but he would be assaulted by Kane for his tweets against Stephanie McMahon. Kingston competed in the Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal at Battleground where he again avoided elimination by being caught by Big E and rode his shoulders to the ring. Despite this, he did not win.

The New Day (2014–present)

During the summer of 2014, Kingston was put in a team with Big E and Xavier Woods usually as manager.[108] In October, WWE began airing vignettes for Kingston, Woods and Big E, with the stable now being billed as The New Day.[109][110]

In the 2016 WWE draft, Kingston, along with his fellow New Day teammates, was drafted to Raw. Three days later, on July 22, Kingston, along with Xavier Woods and Big E, became the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions in history, breaking the record of 331 days previously set by Paul London and Brian Kendrick. After SmackDown established the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships after the brand split, the titles held by the New Day were renamed the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships. They would retain the titles against Gallows and Anderson at SummerSlam and Clash of Champions. Their reign ended at Roadblock: End of the Line, where they lost the title to Cesaro and Sheamus, thus ending their record breaking championship reign at 483 days.[115] Kingston participated the 2017 Royal Rumble in which he was standing on the top-rope when Baron Corbin tried to push him backwards to eliminate him from the match. Instead, he fell directly behind the ring post, grabbed on to the top rope of it and managed to hang on. The New Day were revealed to be the hosts of WrestleMania 33. The night after Wrestlemania on Raw, New Day issued an open challenge to any team which was accepted by the debuting Revival and lost to them. After the match, Revival attacked Kofi Kingston. On April 10, it was announced on WWE.com and Twitter that Kingston had suffered an ankle injury due to the attack of Revival which would require surgery.[116] On April 11, 2017, Kingston and The New Day were moved to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up.[117] The New Day debuted on "Talking Smack", the post-show for SmackDown Live on May 23, however, they did not wrestle or make an appearance on SmackDown Live itself due to Kingston's injury.

The New Day made their official return on May 30, announcing their objective to defeat The Usos and win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. The two teams faced off at Money in the Bank, where Big E and Kingston emerged victorious when The Usos purposely got themselves counted out, thus keeping their titles. A rematch took place at Battleground, where Kingston and Woods were successful in capturing the titles, thus making Kingston the first wrestler to hold the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship (both its previous and current incarnations), and the original World Tag Team Championship. A month later at the SummerSlam pre-show, however, The New Day (represented by Big E and Woods) dropped the titles back to The Usos, ending their reign at 28 days. On September 12 at the episode promoted as Sin City SmackDown, Kingston and Big E represented New Day and defeated The Usos to win back the championship for their second reign in a "Sin City Street Fight", but lost them again to The Usos at Hell in a Cell. On the October 23 edition of Raw, The New Day along with other talent of SmackDown ambushed the Raw locker room. They again appeared on the November 6 episode of Raw in the crowd, which led to distraction of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and costing them the tag titles. On the November 14 edition of SmackDown, The Shield led an attack with Raw Superstars and invaded SmackDown similar to the one led by SmackDown and attacked everyone including New Day. At Survivor Series, The New Day was defeated by The Shield. The New Day failed to regain the titles from The Usos at Clash of Champions in a fatal-4-way tag team match also involving the team of Rusev and Aiden English, and Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin.

At the Royal Rumble, Kingston entered the match as the 16th entrant, but was eliminated by Andrade "Cien" Almas. At Fastlane, the New Day faced The Usos in a tag match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, but went to a no contest after inference from The Bludgeon Brothers.[citation needed] Two weeks later, it was confirmed that at WrestleMania 34, The New Day would face the Usos and the Bludgeon Brothers in a Triple Threat tag team match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships.[118][unreliable source?] The New Day failed to capture the titles at the event, which were won by The Bludgeon Brothers. On the April 11 episode of SmackDown, The New Day were defeated by The Usos in a match to determine which team would challenge The Bludgeon Brothers at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. The New Day were then defeated by Sanity in a six-man Tables match at the Extreme Rules pre-show. The New Day competed in a tag team title tournament, defeating Sanity in the first round, while Cesaro and Sheamus defeated the Usos. The New Day then defeated Cesaro and Sheamus the following week on SmackDown to earn the right to face The Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam, where they won the match by disqualification, meaning the Bludgeon Brothers retained their titles. Two days later on SmackDown, however, The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers in a no disqualification match to capture the titles for a third time.[citation needed] At Hell in a Cell, The New Day successfully defeated Rusev and Aiden English to retain the titles.[119] A few weeks later on October 6, at WWE Super Show-Down, The New Day again retained their titles by defeating The Bar.[120] At WWE SmackDown 1000 The New Day lost their titles against The Bar.[121] On the January 1, 2019 episode of SmackDown, the entire New Day announced their entry into the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 27.[122] At the event, Kingston was eliminated by Drew McIntyre.[123]

Pursuit of the WWE Championship (2019-present)

On the February 12, 2019 edition of SmackDown Live, one member of The New Day was scheduled to replace Mustafa Ali in the WWE ChampionshipElimination Chamber match at the namesake pay-per-view after Ali suffered an injury, and Kingston was selected. Kingston then participated in a Gauntlet match to determine the last entrant in the Chamber match, where he started off with WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. Kingston lasted over an hour all while eliminating Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe, before being eliminated by AJ Styles.[citation needed] At the pay-per-view, Kingston entered the Chamber match as the third entrant, and managed to eliminate Randy Orton, and lasted until the final two, before being eliminated by Bryan.[citation needed] Kingston was initially supposed to face Daniel Bryan one on one at Fastlane for the title, but was replaced during his contract signing by Kevin Owens per the order of Mr. McMahon